Wills skills: estate planning for blended families

Wills skills: estate planning for blended families
Date & time: 24 March 2025, 9.00am - 12.00pm AEDT
Blended families, where one or both partners have children from a previous relationship, are common today, and their existence can make estate planning an especially tricky area. Skilful and effective estate planning ensures that all of the client's intended beneficiaries are provided for in the event of the client's death and the potential for conflict within the family is minimised.
Join our half-day course on estate planning for blended families to:
- Gain an understanding of how to tackle client objectives
- Learn about possible strategies, estate planning advantages, and risks including: Outright gifts, Mutual wills contract, Discretionary trusts, Non-estate assets; and
- Be informed about the risks of excluding children from prior relationships
Facilitated by:
- Katelin Whitley, Principal, Bestic Law, and Accredited Specialist, Wills and Estates
- Paul Evans, Partner, Makinson d’Apice, Accredited Specialist, Wills and Estates
Feedback from past attendees:
- “Effective delivery in a meaningful way with helpful illustrations.”
- “The presenters communicated very well and were highly skilled in the area of presentation.”
- “The two presenters provided real world information in a complimentary format where they worked well together to provide information and analysis. They covered the issues I have need for knowledge about.”
At the end of this webinar, you may claim 2 CPD points.
Course Outline
9.00am: Welcome and overview
9.05am: Session 1
- Outright gifts
- Life estates
- Mutual wills
- Complex families and relationship changes
10.20am: Stretch break
10.30am: Session 2
- Testamentary discretionary trusts
- Superannuation death benefits trusts
- Family trust
- Equalisation clause
- Marriage
- Foreign client/beneficiary
12.00pm: Close
The webinar is ideal for solicitors in general practice, lawyers and specialists in elder law, wills and estates, property law, medico law, estate planning specialists, probate lawyers and staff, family law practitioner and new solicitors (years 1-5 in practice).
This webinar is produced in NSW and features NSW based practitioners. This webinar is available to all NSW based practitioners.
If you intend to claim CPD units for this educational activity, please note that CPD activities are not accredited by the Law Society of NSW or any other equivalent local authority, with the exception of Western Australia. If you hold a practising certificate in a state or territory other than Western Australia and this educational activity extends your knowledge and skills in areas that are relevant to your practice needs or professional development, then you should claim one (1) "unit” for each hour of attendance, refreshment breaks not included. The annual requirement is ten (10) CPD units each year from 1 April to 31 March. Some practitioners, such as accredited specialists are required to complete more than ten (10) units each CPD year.
All times listed for this course are Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time (AEDT). Please take note of any time differences if you are registering from QLD, WA, SA, NT or from outside Australia.
Substantive Law – 1 Point
Professional Skills – 1 Point
Katelin Whitley
Principal, Bestic Law, Accredited Specialist, Wills & Estates and Accredited Specialist in Property Law
Katelin Whitley is the principal of Bestic Law located in Sydney and the Hunter Valley and practises primarily in succession and trust matters. She was admitted to practice in 2001 and was recognised by the NSW Law Society as an Accredited Wills and Estates Specialist in 2011 and as an Accredited Property Law Specialist in 2021.
She has considerable experience advising and acting on contested estate litigation including lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence cases, family provision claims, construction of will litigation, and application of the Forfeiture Act. Katelin has represented estates, applicants, and beneficiaries.
She works on both simple and high level estate planning and acts on estate administrations including for large and complex estates.
Katelin has been lecturing in the College of Law Wills & Estates Master of Law Program since 2017. She completed her Master of Laws at the University of Sydney and Master of Forensic Mental Health in the UNSW School of Psychiatry. She was a member of the Law Society of NSW's Elder Law and Succession Committee from 2012 to 2022 and a member of the Law Society's Accredited Specialists Committee from 2022 to 2024.
Paul Evans
Partner, Makinson d’Apice, Accredited Specialist, Wills and Estates
Paul is an Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law, a member of the NSW Law Society's Specialist Accreditation Wills and Estates Advisory Committee, and a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
For the past three years, Paul has been listed in the Doyles' guides as one of the top 3 pre‑eminent lawyers in the area of Leading Wills, Estates & Succession Planning Lawyers in NSW.
He is highly experienced in assisting a range of clients, including high net worth individuals in transferring and protecting their wealth and during his time in London, he specialised in inheritance tax mitigation.
Paul also provides continuing legal education for solicitors and other professionals and is a regular speaker on Wills and Estate Law at Estate Planning, Estate Administration, and Superannuation seminars.
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